At-Home with Gila Svirsky

Jerusalem
29 November 2001
Subject: Appeal from Israeli Peace Organizations

Dear Friends,

The situation continues to be grave in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. As reported by Ha’aretz journalist Gideon Levy, this is the worst Ramadan in many years. Prime Minister Sharon demands “seven days of quiet” before entering into negotiations, while making sure that these seven days never happen. His policies towards Palestinians constitute a string of provocations and brutal oppression.

The undersigned Israeli peace organizations ask you to join us in sending the letter below, or a similar one, to the US President, the US Secretary of State, the EU President, and UN officials, calling upon them to bring the occupation to an end. We regard the occupation as the root cause of both the oppression of Palestinians in the territories and the subsequent violence against Israelis. Contact information follows the letter.

Alternative Information Center
Coalition of Women for a Just Peace (which includes Bat Shalom,
MachsomWatch, NELED, New Profile, Noga Feminist Journal,
TANDI, WILPF-Israel, Women and Mothers for Peace, Women
Engendering Peace, and Women in Black)
Gush Shalom
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Dear Sir / Madam, We request your intervention to protect the Palestinians in the occupied territories and to bring the Israeli occupation to an end, an occupation that only feeds the cycle of mutual violence and thereby endangers both nations and the stability of the region. Prime Minister Sharon demands "seven days of quiet" before entering into negotiations, and yet he pursues policies that tighten the grip of the occupation, increase the misery and humiliation of the Palestinians, and therefore feed the cycle of violence and prevent the onset of negotiations. Endless military roadblocks, ostensibly to prevent movement of terrorists, have not achieved their stated aim, but they do impair the ability of Palestinians to reach work, school, and medical treatment. Palestinians who, for years, have held jobs in Israel are no longer given work permits or allowed to enter. Massive unemployment foments unrest and is a poor basis for "seven days of quiet." Palestinian lives and property are frequently attacked by Israeli settlers, without hindrance by the Israeli army or government. Moreover under the pretext of "security measures," "licensing laws," and "road construction" (for settlers), Sharon's government has relentlessly destroyed, or allowed settlers to destroy, Palestinian homes, roads, and fields. In response to Colin Powell's speech last week, the Sharon government allowed the Jordan Valley Regional Council to offer free housing to new settlers. Mr. Sharon's recent military rampage and partial re-occupation of Palestinian towns, following the assassination of Israel's Minister of Tourism, left a wide swath of death, injury, and destruction. The vast majority of those harmed had nothing to do with the assassination. The recent assassination of the Hamas military commander ordered by Israeli government was clearly designed to raise the level of violence and thus escape international pressure to enter into negotiations. We urgently request the intervention of the United States, the European Union, and other concerned nations to apply pressure on the Israeli government to end the occupation of Palestinian territory, and the subsequent nightmare for the Palestinian people, which only brings violence into Israeli life as well. In the interim, we request that an international monitoring body be immediately dispatched to the region to end the cycle of violence and counter-violence. Respectfully, [your name here]

Please note: Printing out and faxing your letter (or personally making a phone call), whenever possible, is more effective pressure than e-mail.

President George W. Bush
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
Fax: (202) 456-2461

Secretary of State Colin Powell
Email: secretary@state.gov
Fax: (202) 261-8577

European Union President Romano Prodi
Email: romano.prodi@cec.eu.int

Mr. Terje Rod Larsen
Personal Representative of the Secretary General to the United Nations in Palestine
Email: unsco@palnet.com
Tel: +(972-8) 282 2914
Fax: +(972-8) 282 0966

Ms. Mary Robinson
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Email: webadmin.hchr@unog.chor
Fax: +(41-22) 917-9016

CC to:

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
Email: sar@mofa.gov.il
Fax: +(972-2) 5303704

Israeli Defense Minister Benyamin Ben Eliezer
Email: sar@mod.gov.il
Fax: +(972-3) 6916940 or +(972-3) 6976990

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Fax: +(972-2) 566-4838 or
+(972-2) 651-3955
+(972-2) 651-2631

You may also consider sending a copy to Republican Senator Christopher Bond:
kit_bond@bond.senate.gov
who recently organized a petition by 88 US Senators to “protect Israeli interests” (“Senators Urge Bush Not to Hamper Israel” November 17, 2001, New York Times; the text of the petition is on http://bond.senate.gov/isletter.cfm